Portable packing and weighing stand



March 9, 1937. A. R. UPP

PORTABLE PACKING AND WEIGHING STAND Filed July 15, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet lINVENTOR A.R. U J J Q March 9, 1937. UPP

PORTABLE PACKING AND WEIGHLNG STAND Filed July 15, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2ATTORNEY Ujop @qmm:

Patented Mar. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PORTABLE PACKING ANDWEIGHING STAND Application July 15,

Claims.

This invention relates to the fruit and vegetable packing industry, andparticularly to the packing of fruit in lug boxes for shipment, being animprovement over the structure shown in my 5 copending application forpatent, Serial No.

706,646, filed January 15, 1934.

The principal object of my invention therefore is to provide asupporting tray for a stack of wrapping papers, said tray being mountedon the stand so that the wrappers are convenient to the packer, but sosaid tray may be readily moved out of the way without detachment when itis not in use. I have also provided a means to enable the box supportingplatform to be held against movement when desired as when packing eachlayer of pears in a box, in order to avoid the jiggling of the platformwhich would otherwise be had.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which will be exceedingly eifective for the purposefor which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of. such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views:

Figure l is a side elevation of my improved device.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation showing the mounting of.the tray supporting post.

Figure 4 is a front view of the scale device with the cover partlybroken away.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary cross section on the line 55 of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the stand comprises pairs of front and rear legs or uprights Iand 2 respectively rigidly connected together by upper and lowerhorizontal bars 3 so as to provide a rigid frame of rectangular form inplan, and of greater area than that of a standard fruit box. The backlegs are somewhat taller than the front ones and the upper cross bar 3thereof supports the weighing or scale unit, as will be seen later.

Disposed above the level of the front portion of the frame and in frontof the rear legs is a flat platform 4 for the support of a shipping box.

2 This platform is disposed with a convenient downward slant toward thefront, its rear end lying adjacent the back cross bar 3 and beingprovided across its front end with an upstanding 1935, Serial No. 31,394

flange 5 which prevents forward sliding movement of. the box fromposition.

Rigidly secured to and depending from the sides of the platform inwardlyof the stand frame are arms 6 connected at their lower ends by a crossbar I. Diagonal brace straps 8 between the arms and platform preventpossible movement of the platform relative to the arms.

Vertically spaced and horizontally braced pairs of parallel links 9 arepivoted on the arms 6 in termediate their ends and on the rear legs 2.The platform is thus fioatably supported from the stand for directvertical movement relative thereto.

Upstanding from the top bar 3 .of the back legs 2 is a housing ill, thetop of which supports a depending tension spring H. To the lower end ofthis spring is'secured a depending link i2 having a reduced neck l3intermediate its ends slidably engaging a suitable slot formed in thebottom of the housing. The bottom of the neck forms a shoulder normallyengaging the under side of. the bottom of the housing, thereby limitingthe possible contracting of the spring and enabling the latter to bealways kept under a certain tension. The link below the housing isswivelly connected to a bar 14 rigid with and pro jecting rearwardlyfrom under the platform 4 centrally of its width.

Pivotally mounted in the housing is a pointer l5 whose upper end isvisible through a circular slot l6 in the front of the housing, saidslot being graduated along its length to indicate pounds or other unitsof weight. The pointer is operatively connected in any suitable mannerto the link I 2 to be swung across the slot as said lirik descends.

It will thus be seen that as a box is loaded the increase in weight asit occurs will be indicated on the dial behind and above the box and thepacker will know the instant the box has the necessary and predeterminedweight of fruit therein, without further time in handling the box beingnecessary.

The structure so far described is substantially the same as before, andis all that is necessary for packing and weighing ordinary produce. Foruse with certain fruits such as pears, which are individually wrapped, Iprovide an attachment arranged as follows:

Pivoted for vertical adjustment on the lower transverse cross bar 3 onthe left hand side of the stand is a free arm I'l, preferably projectingupwardly to a level adjacent that of the platform. This arm is guidedabove its pivot for limited swinging movement in a direction from frontto back of the stand between diagonal straps l8 secured to the adjacentleg 2 and top bar 3.

Mounted on the upper portion of said arm are vertically spaced blocks l9serving as bearings for a turnable post 22) which projects above the armsome distance. Supported by the post at its upper end and rigidtherewith is a tray 2! of suitable size to receive a stack of individualwrappers such as are used for pears.

This post is connected to the tray near its open right-hand side andnear its rear side; this relationship of the post to the sides of thetray obtaining when said tray is in an operative position as shown inFigure 2. By thus positioning the post relative to the tray, the latterwhen in operative position does not overhang the platform 4, but isdisposed to one side of the same. By turning the tray however through a90 are it may be moved to overlie the platform as indicated at A inFigure 2. This position of the tray reduces the overall width of thedevice so that it is more conveniently arranged for transportation. Whenthe arm I? is swung back as far as possible the tray without beingturned is substantially out of the way of packing operations, asindicated at B in Figure 2; and said tray may then if desired be swungthrough another 90 are so that it is disposed in a plane back of thestand as shown at C where it is entirely out of the way.

In order to enable the tray to be easily swung when desired through any90 arc, while normally preventing such turning, the lower end of thepost below the lower bearing 59, is squared as at 22 and slidably fitsin a socket of similar shape formed in a block 23 secured to the arm 17,as shown in Figure 3. A collar 2 on the post between the block 23 andthe adjacent block 19 permits the upward movement of the post onlysufficient to clear the squared end from the socket, so as to free thepost for turning.

To prevent jiggling of the platform when desired, a shaft 25 having anoperating handle 2511. on one end is turnably mounted on the top of thestand at the front and extends across the stand under the platform 4. Acam or stop element 26 is fixed on the shaft under the central bar M ofthe platform and is adapted only when the shaft is turned to a certainposition, to engage the under side of said bar as shown in Figure 1 andprevent any downward movement of the platform.

To enable the height of the stand to be adjusted I provide the legs iand 2 with telescopic extensions 21, adapted to be clamped at anyposition by set screws 28 mounted on the corresponding legs, as shown inFigure 5. The extensions of the rear legs 2 are connected at their lowerend by a bar 29 which in the left-hand end projects beyond thecorresponding leg 2 some distance, as shown in Figure 2. This bar at itsends supports casters 38. By this construction any tendency for thestand to upset laterally due to the overhanging weight of the tray iseliminated. The stand can be easily moved about by lifting the same atthe front slightly, and since it is of relatively light though sturdyconstruction, this can be readily done without any great physical effortbeing necessary.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A fruit box packing device comprising a stand, a box supportingplatform mounted on the stand, an upstanding arm pivoted on one side ofthe stand for swinging movement in a plane parallel to said side, a postturnably mounted on and upstanding from the arm, a tray to support astack of wrappers disposed above the arm and arranged to one side of theplatform when in operative position; the post being secured to and thendepending from the tray from adjacent the rear corner thereof on theside nearest the platform.

2. A structure as in claim 1, with releasable means normally preventingrotation of the post and allowing of such rotation to three differentpositions 90 apart.

3. A fruit box packing device comprising a stand, a box supportingplatform mounted on the stand, an arm pivoted on one side of the standfor swinging movement in a plane parallel to said side, a tray tosupport a stack of. wrappers disposed above the arm, and a post turnablymounted on and supported from the arm and supporting the tray so thatthe latter is disposed to one side of the platform when in operativeposition.

4. A fruit box packing device comprising a stand, a box supportingplatform mounted on the stand, an arm pivoted on one side of the standfor swinging movement in a plane parallel to said side, a tray tosupport a stack of wrappers disposed above the arm, a post turnable andslidable in the arm and secured at its upper end on the tray to supportthe latter, a square-socket block on the arm adjacent the lower end ofthe post, and a squared end on said post normally seated in the socket,and removable therefrom by upward movement of the post anamountsufficient to clear the socket, and means to limit the upwardmovement of the post to such amount.

5. A fruit box packing device comprising a stand, a box supportingplatform mounted on the stand, an arm pivoted on the stand on one sidethereof for swinging movement in a plane parallel to said side, and atray to support a stack of wrappers disposed above and supported fromthe arm for swinging movement therewith.

ADA R. UPP.

